The Summer of 1903 and the Battle over Small Loans Between the Monte di Pietà and Private Banks

The article analyses the situation of the city of Naples, in southern Italy, and the central role played by the Banco di Napoli in the development of credit lines able to respond to the various needs of customers in search of liquidity during the early decades of the twentieth century. I will focus on a particular segment of the Banco’s lending practices, which concerns micro-credits to households. From this point of view, it is particularly interesting to follow the activity carried out by the Monte di Pietà, a branch of the Banco which had a long tradition in granting loans on pledges to the “less fortunate class”. During this period, the Monte di Pietà widerwent a process of reorganization. Its purpose was to counter, and eventually replace, the action of small private banks that had recently proliferated and offered a variety of credit services for the economic needs of citizens. Documents show a scenario of great competitiveness between the credit institution represented by the Banco and the private initiative of the many small credit entrepreneurs, a dimension in which the gender issue is not secondary. Through cross-referencing archive documentation concerning Monte di Pietà and the statutes of private banks founded in Naples at the turn of the twentieth century, I would like to reconstruct this specular dimension and outline the terms of a 'battle' for financial inclusion that offers a privileged look at the complex mechanisms and criteria needed to access micro-credit in contemporary cities. The big fire that in the summer of 1903 destroyed part of the Monte di Pietà of Naples is the starting point of this analysis.